Atishi Marlena, the Chief Minister of Delhi, led the cabinet ministers on Monday morning in a proactive effort to inspect and identify damaged roads across the city, aiming for a pothole-free national capital by Diwali.
In an official statement, Atishi said she has taken the responsibility of south and south-east Delhi. Saurabh Bharadwaj has taken the responsibility of east Delhi, Gopal Rai has taken north-east Delhi, Kailash Gahlot has taken west and south-west Delhi, Imran Hussain has taken central and New Delhi and Mukesh Ahlawat have taken the responsibility of north and north-west Delhi
Atishi, accompanied by Public Works Department (PWD) engineers, visited different areas in south and southeast Delhi.
In a post on X, the chief minister said she found roads at NSIC Okhla, Modi Mill flyover, Chirag Dilli, Tughalakabad, Mathura Road, Ashram Chowk and its underpass in a dilapidated condition. People have to face problems because of potholes on these roads, she said.
The chief minister directed the officials to start the repair work on a war footing and said "Under the guidance of Arvind Kejriwal, it is our endeavour that all Delhiites get pothole-free roads by Diwali".
BSES laid the line in front of NSIC Metro Station, but the road was not repaired after that. Here people not only face problems due to broken roads but there is also a traffic jam. In this way, every inch of the road will be inspected. All the roads will be built within the next three to four weeks, Atishi said.
Bharadwaj and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia inspected roads in east Delhi.
Sisodia, in a post on X, alleged that the BJP sent him and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to jail in fake cases to stall the work being done by the AAP government for the people of Delhi.
Because of this, the condition of roads has worsened, he said.
Sisodia said that now that Kejriwal is back, all the pending work will be finished quickly. He has asked the CM and all ministers to urgently improve the condition of the roads in the national capital. Delhi's roads will soon get better since Kejriwal has taken charge of it.
Ministers Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and Mukesh Ahlawat also inspected roads.
Rai inspected roads in northeast Delhi, Gahlot in west and southwest Delhi, Hussain in New Delhi and central Delhi and Ahlawat in north and northwest Delhi.
"Today I inspected the roads of Noor-e-Ilahi and Yamuna Vihar in northeast Delhi. Dust pollution occurs first after the rain. Therefore, our effort is to control it. Apart from this, the anti-dust campaign is starting from October 7. Under this, we are forming about 523 teams to go to the field," Gopal Rai said.
After the inspection, Gahlot posted on X that this morning, along with senior officials of PWD, he inspected the main roads of Najafgarh, Bahadurgarh Road and Dhasan Road.
Due to the prolonged monsoon, the condition of roads is not good and people are facing problems due to potholes at many places, he said.
During the inspection, instructions were given to the officers that all necessary repairs on the road should be done as soon as possible so that people do not face inconvenience in commuting, he mentioned in the post.
During the inspection, Gahlot found that the PWD drains were broken and due to lack of cleaning, there was water-logging around them. The roads were damaged due to continuous water accumulation. The minister directed the officials to immediately repair and clean the drains, as well as start road repair work immediately, the statement said.
Ahlawat said he inspected the road located in Sultanpur Majra Assembly constituency around 10 am and instructed the PWD officials to get the road repaired as soon as possible.
"Wherever there is a problem, those roads will be repaired. The roads which need to be rebuilt will be rebuilt, those which need repair will be repaired and the roads which have potholes will be filled. Rohtak Road has suffered a lot of damage due to rain and the drains have also broken. Therefore, the water will be removed first from there by installing a pump, after that it will be repaired," Ahlawat said.
AAP senior leader Jasmine Shah, who accompanied Ahlawat, said that the PWD officials have been directed to install round-the-clock pumping so that water doesn't get collected, and urgent repair work on the road is initiated.
"Through the combined efforts of ministers, MLAs and PWD officials, we shall ensure Delhi becomes pothole-free before Diwali,” he shared.
Similarly, Hussain stated that he and party MLA Durgesh Pathak have inspected the PWD roads in Paharganj and Motiya Khan and instructed the present officers to repair them as soon as possible.
The party through its official X handle said that the campaign to repair broken roads in Delhi started on a war footing.
On Sunday, Atishi held a meeting to review the condition of roads in the city and said that all ministers would inspect roads in designated areas for a week to identify those in need of repair.